Tips for the nouveau rich—and the rest of us— about daily habits of the wealthy

By Dian Vujovich

There aren’t too many people in the U.S. who don’t worry about money. Even those with billions. So whether there is an abundance of money accumulated in various accounts, you’ve just joined the six-figure club or are struggling to make ends meet, one author shares what he learned about the daily habits of the rich we can all learn from.

In his book, “Rich Habits: The Daily Success Habits of Wealthy Individuals”, author Tom Corely interviewed over 350 individuals—some rich and some not so. He defined “wealthy” as those having at least $3.2 million in assets and earning at least $160,000 a year and the “poor” as those earning under 30 g’s a year with less than $5,000 in assets. This, according to a recent Yahoo Finance story.

So….if one of your dreams is to become a mega-millionaire—or billionaire—or is simply to just pick up a few good habits from those who have major sized bank accounts, here are a few pointers from Corely’s book:

• The wealthy wake up early; 44 percent get up three hours before heading off to their jobs.

• They utilize to-do lists and actually use them: 70 percent of the tasks are checked off daily.

• The rich aren’t into office gossip: 6 percent admit to indulging in it while 79 percent of low-income people apparently feed on it.

• Speaking of feeding, for the wealthy, big lunches are out and calorie counting is in: 55 percent network during lunch and limit their junk food snacks to 300 calories a day.

“Wealthy people are healthy people. To wealthy people being healthy is about making more money,” says Corley. “If they’re healthy they have fewer sick days, they’re exercising, they have more energy, they maintain health their entire lives so they can work longer careers.”